Rain, rain, go away!

Wouldn't you know it? I came back from Georgia and it's rained everyday since my return on Monday. I finally got the MP3 out for a ride yesterday at lunch for a ride up to my favorite sushi place, but didn't get to ride anymore that day as the rain came back as I was finishing up mowing the lawn, weeding and raking after work.

On a positive note, however, Wanda finally admitted she actually wants to start riding with me and we'll soon go get her some riding gear to make it not only fun, but safe for her as well.

A Gorgeous Ride

Okay, it was beautiful today. It was warm, sunny, and calm. Yesterday wasn't too bad either, but today was simply superb. It wasn't too hot--the temperature topped out at about 78 degrees, and there were only a few lovely, fluffy clouds in the sky. So, when I rode home from work today, I simply couldn't help myself.

The route in purple is the shortest and fastest way home - 10 minutes tops, maybe 4 miles at the most. The route in blue, however, is much more fun. It goes through some beautiful rural areas, up some hills, down some grades, around some curves, and at the top of the ride, looks over a good portion of Washington County all the way to the Coastal Mountain Range in the far distance.

The fact that spring flowers were blooming everywhere and the rhododendrons were in their full glory just added color and beauty to the ride. There wasn't much traffic this afternoon, and while I didn't have the road entirely to myself, for most of the ride I wasn't crowded or restricted by those behind or ahead of me. This is why I got the scooter. If I had had a little more time to get home, I would have stopped several times along the way to shoot some images, but unfortunately, I still had one meeting left before I concluded my day and began a short vacation, so I didn't have that luxury. So, you just get to see the map of my route.

As the weather improves, and it will since Oregon has the best summers, I'm planning on a lot more rides and those will include lots of stops for images. I'm especially looking forward to a ride to Astoria and back in the not too distant future.

Mods

Has it really been nearly a month since I updated this blog? A lot has happened since that Sunday ride. Probably the biggest event was that I completed the Team Oregon Basic Rider Training Course and received my full motorcycle license endorsement. The course is 2 1/2 days of classroom and rider training and the last day concludes with a riding evaluation and a written test. The instructors are knowledgeable and friendly, and do a lot of coaching throughout the course. Motorcycles and helmets are provided, or you can provide your own. Two people in our group decided to ride their own bikes, and many of us used our own helmets. I decided to use one of their motorcycles because I wanted to familiarize myself with braking and shifting on a motorcycle as opposed to the system used on the scooter.

The riding evaluation was definitely not easy. We were tested on everything we learned during the course as well as evaluated on interactive riding on a closed course. I did pass the test, so that was all I was looking for at this point. I did, however, ace the written portion of the exam. The course wrapped up on a Sunday afternoon, so I went home and had a nice cookout with the family to celebrate. The following Tuesday I went down to the DMV and paid for my motorcycle endorsement.

This past weekend I decided to add a couple of safety and security modification to my bike. My first task was to add a brake light modulator so that when stopped or slowing down, I would be clearly visible to trailing vehicles. I chose the Signal Dynamics Back-off modulator. The hardest part about the whole modification was removing the rear panels and the passenger handgrips to access the tail light assembly. Once that was complete, wiring in the modulator was quite easy.

The next modification I installed was much simpler and was accomplished while the rear side panels were off. I wanted a security system that would sound an alarm if someone approached the bike or attempted to tamper with it. I chose the Scorpio i900 system with a backup battery, and RFID pendant and a proximity alarm.  Since the Piaggio MP3 500 has an alarm harness already installed, hookup was a matter of attaching the main module, antenna, RFID sensor and proximity unit. During this installation, my grandson came over for a visit and he decided he really needed to help Papa with the modification. He was so earnest and cute, but I had to watch him with an eagle eye lest he actually do something I really didn't want him to do.

I installed my final modification this evening after work - a headlight modulator. This was a little trickier to wire, and I did leave one function of the unit uninstalled - the heads-up feature that engages when the horn is activated. I figure I'll save that one for when I install a large air horn sometime later this year.

Once again, I chose Signal Dynamics for the manufacturer, and the installation was relatively straight forward, even though the MP3 500 has dual low and high beam headlights. The headlight modulator changes the headlight intensity on a continuous cycle which attracts more attention than steady headlights. The modulation is only active during daylight and automatically reverts to non-modulated lighting at low light levels. The modulation can also be turned off by simply switching between high and low beam lights quickly. The post installation test went well, but I did have to take a short test ride just to make sure everything was working as it should.

The weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow, so I'll be riding into work and running some errands later in the afternoon. Summer rides should now be safer and more secure with these modifications.